ISmall-Business.net

Intelligent Business Solutions

  • Home
  • Strategy
    • Small Business Strategy
      • Combining Niches to Maximize Profit Potential
      • High Ticket Versus Volume Niche Selection
      • How to Know When to Cut a Business or Niche Loose
      • Never Put All Your Eggs in One Basket
    • Sales Strategy
      • Facebook Networking Versus Paid Advertising
      • Brainstorming a Successful Sales Funnel
      • Best Practices for Profitable List Building
      • Backend Sales Strategy Tips
      • A Better Way to Use Webinars for Profits
      • Creating a Welcome Email That Makes Money
    • Production Strategy
    • Human resource strategy
  • Management
    • Business action plan
      • 7 Things to Send JVs to Get Them Onboard
      • Don’t Make JV Promises You Can’t Keep
      • How to Host a Challenge and Maximize Profits
    • Small Business Management
      • Putting Profit Tasks First During Time Management
      • How Self Doubt Sabotages Your Financial Success
      • Repurpose Your Content to Save and Make Money
    • Business Management Topics
      • Fighting the Stigma of Failure
      • Figuring Out the Perfect Launch Date and Time
      • Bonus Creation That Catapults You to Leaderboard Domination
      • Do Customers Prefer Video or Text Courses
      • Minimize Your Risk of Refunds with These 5 Tips
      • How Often Should You Email Promo Material
      • Narrow Niche Domination
      • Perfecting the Launch Process for Increased Profits
    • Business Management Blogs
      • Nobody Expects a Perfect Expert
  • Ideas
    • Find business ideas
      • 5 Lucrative Non IM Niches
      • 6 Niches That Are Hot on Social Networks
      • Are PLR Stores a Viable Way to Make Money
      • How to Know If a Membership Site Is Right for You
    • Idea feasibility
      • How to Make Money Off a $7 Product
      • Recurring Income Options
    • 10 top business ideas
      • Could Coaching Bring in More Money Than Products
      • Individual Coaching Versus Group Coaching Profits
      • Building a Reputation as a Powerful Affiliate
      • Pinterest Profit Niches
    • Low cost business ideas
      • Making Money Off eBooks and Reports
  • Valuation
    • Business Valuation
    • Increase business valuation
      • Making Wise Investments in Tools to Further Your Business
    • Business Valuation Methods
    • Understand business valuation
  • About
    • About Me
    • Blog
    • Contact Us
    • Sitemap
    • Privacy Policy
  • Strategy
  • Supply Chain
  • Customer Focus
  • Entrepreneur
  • Biz Opportunities
You are here: Home / Strategy / 12 Questions to Test Your Employees’ Knowledge Like the Pros

12 Questions to Test Your Employees’ Knowledge Like the Pros

June 16, 2019 by Asif Nazeer Leave a Comment


12 Ways to Test Employee Knowledge

As a business owner, it’s important that your employees have a strong baseline knowledge of their areas of expertise. But do you know ways to test employee knowledge? If you want to discover how well a worker actually understands a subject, you need to know the right kinds of questions to ask, and what can be learned from them. To find out more, we asked members of Young Entrepreneur Council the following:

“What is the most productive question to ask an employee when you want to discover how well they understand a subject?”

Ways to Test Employee Knowledge

Here’s what YEC community members had to say on ways to test employee knowledge:

1. “How Confident Are You on This Topic?”

“Ask them an honest question about how confident they are on the topic. They could rank their subject matter knowledge out of 10 and you can think about where you want to go with them after that. Obviously, if they give you a low number, then discuss it with someone else.” ~ Nicole Munoz, Nicole Munoz Consulting, Inc.

2. “Why Are We Doing Things This Way?”

“The most important part of understanding a subject is to clearly comprehend the why behind it. For this reason, I ask my employees why we are doing something and why it’s being done in a certain way. If they have a full understanding of the bigger picture, they are better able to think critically about improvements and ultimately contribute to the company’s growth.” ~ Stephen Beach, Craft Impact Marketing

3. “How Can We Improve?”

“There’s always room for improvement no matter how well the business is doing or how employees are performing. If you ask an employee how something can be improved, you’re essentially finding out how much they know about it as well as gaining feedback. You can’t go wrong with getting opinions on how things could run smoother and more efficiently, so asking this often is important.” ~ Jared Atchison, WPForms

4. “Can You List Five Facts About This?”

“I like to have an employee list five things they understand about a project or subject. This tells me what they focus on, what they remember, and what they value related to that subject. It also tells me what they might be missing so I can help fill those in.” ~ Angela Ruth, Calendar

5. “What Are Your Thoughts?”

“If you ask the basic question ‘What are your thoughts?’ you’re going to get a long-drawn, detailed response based on how well the employee understands the subject. You can drive the conversation by asking further questions based on their response.” ~ Syed Balkhi, WPBeginner

6. “What Bugs You the Most About This?”

“A great way to hear how informed someone is on a given subject is to ask them to criticize it. If you ask an employee what bothers them about something and they tell you it’s too confusing or difficult, chances are that they aren’t very informed. On the other hand, an employee that goes into great detail about specific nitpicks is clearly very familiar with the subject in question.” ~ Bryce Welker, Crush The CPA Exam

7. “Can You Send Me an Email Explaining This?”

“At the risk of infantilizing your employees, having them explain a subject back to you (or to other coworkers) is the best litmus test. Ask them to send an overview email to you or to the parties involved. Not only does it double check everyone’s understanding, but it’s a helpful way to capture the content on the table.” ~ Jessica Gonzalez, InCharged

8. “How Would You Bounce Back From a Failure Here?”

“Find something relating to the subject and put them in a scenario that includes how they would bounce back from failure. Failure is inevitable and in my opinion a very positive step. If they truly understand a subject they will be able to analyze how to succeed from something going wrong. Anyone can analyze a subject by success, but only the best employees can progress in failure.” ~ Anthony Russo, #bethechange

9. “Is There Another Way to Do This?”

“When trying to discover how well an employee understands a subject, ask them if there’s another, better or easier way to do it. If the employee comes up with a strategy that’s more effective, you’ll know that they have a strong understanding of the subject, have listened intently and thought about what you’ve said.” ~ Stephanie Wells, Formidable Forms

10. Give them a Real World Problem

“I used to ask a lot of advertising-related questions from our agency applicants — what is this, how do you call that, and so on and so forth. As soon as I started using real-world scenarios instead, it became very clear who actually knows their stuff and who has read a textbook. The client is X and they’re trying to do Y with Z amount of money — what’s your plan?” ~ Karl Kangur, MRR Media

11. Prepare a Small Verbal or Written Test

“A small test can help you determine whether or not employees understand a subject. After giving them the information they need to know, give them a verbal or written test going over the topics you covered. The test will let you know whether or not your teaching method is effective, and can help you identify topics that may need additional coverage.” ~ Blair Williams, MemberPress

12. Ask Open-Ended Questions About Their Process

“Simply asking, ‘Do you understand?’ will not get the job done. Instead, ask the person how long it will take for the person to complete a task, how and where they will obtain the information to complete it, if they foresee any challenges, and where there is anyone they can go to if they need support. Also, circle back at a midpoint before a deadline to ensure that everything is on track.” ~ Blair Thomas, eMerchantBroker

Image: Depositphotos.com

This article, “12 Questions to Test Your Employees’ Knowledge Like the Pros” was first published on Small Business Trends





Source link

Filed Under: Strategy

About Asif Nazeer

My current sphere of interest is Internet Marketing - Worked for many years in finance and banking. I now consult for small businesses and starts ups. Also involved in venture capital for new companies.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Sign up for our newsletter and receive a free EBook on how to boost productivity






Find it

Blog By

Small Business Consultant and Accountant helping grow your small business Read More…

Follow us online

  • Email
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter

Recent Posts

The Benefits of Buying an Apartment in a Gated Community

Featured image from damacproperties.com Especially if you own a home-based … [Read More...]

  • 4 Steps to Take When You Quit Your Job – Careers
  • How to Find the Best Auto Insurance for Your Needs – Business
  • The Key Differences Between a Virtual Mailbox and a PO Box – Business

Archives

  • March 2023 (4)
  • February 2023 (2)
  • January 2023 (5)
  • December 2022 (5)
  • November 2022 (8)
  • October 2022 (7)
  • September 2022 (6)
  • August 2022 (6)
  • July 2022 (13)
  • June 2022 (11)
  • May 2022 (7)
  • April 2022 (8)
  • March 2022 (12)
  • February 2022 (8)
  • January 2022 (11)
  • December 2021 (9)
  • November 2021 (10)
  • October 2021 (11)
  • September 2021 (3)
  • August 2021 (10)
  • July 2021 (12)
  • June 2021 (5)
  • May 2021 (10)
  • April 2021 (17)
  • March 2021 (40)
  • February 2021 (39)
  • January 2021 (58)
  • December 2020 (66)
  • November 2020 (59)
  • October 2020 (34)
  • September 2020 (47)
  • August 2020 (37)
  • July 2020 (2)
  • May 2020 (1)
  • April 2020 (1)
  • March 2020 (33)
  • February 2020 (25)
  • January 2020 (20)
  • December 2019 (27)
  • November 2019 (28)
  • October 2019 (34)
  • September 2019 (38)
  • August 2019 (13)
  • July 2019 (44)
  • June 2019 (40)
  • May 2019 (58)
  • April 2019 (51)
  • March 2019 (43)
  • February 2019 (44)
  • January 2019 (43)
  • December 2018 (47)
  • November 2018 (43)
  • October 2018 (58)
  • September 2018 (44)
  • August 2018 (60)
  • July 2018 (49)
  • June 2018 (58)
  • May 2018 (54)
  • April 2018 (39)
  • March 2018 (46)
  • February 2018 (48)

Biz Opps

Featured image from … [Read More...]

Featured image by Andrea Piacquadio via … [Read More...]

Featured image by Jacob Morch via … [Read More...]

Customer Focus

First published in Exchange, the magazine of the … [Read More...]

Entrepreneurs

Uptown Cheapskate is a resale store for young … [Read More...]

A team of neuroscientists in the United States … [Read More...]

This article was translated from our Spanish … [Read More...]

Strategy

If you buy something through our links, we may … [Read More...]

In helping celebrate Black History Month, Facebook … [Read More...]

ZOHO started its current Email Marketing Basics … [Read More...]

Supply Chain

Although managing inbound shipping can be … [Read More...]

© Copyright 2015 iSmall-Business.net · All Rights Reserved · Powered by ISmall-Business.net · Admin